Shaman Ariella Moon: Ariella Moon

The Goddess Brigid: February's Spiritual Ally in the Time of COVID

4:50 PM

Imbolc: A Mid-Winter Festival of Light and Hope

8:20 PM

Altar with St. Brigid Crosses
Carrowcrory Cottage, Ireland
Photo by Janice Hall
Used with permission.

Blessed Imbolc!

Whenever I think of Imbolc, I am transported to Ireland on a very rainy day in June 2016. At Carrowcrory Cottage, I and my fellow travelers were the guests of local guide John Wilmott and his wife, Irish singer and harpist, Claire Roche. After picking reeds from the rushes outside the cottage, we moved indoors and sat in a semicircle around the fire. While rain slid relentlessly down the windows, we wove the reeds into Brigid Crosses in honor of the Celtic Triple Goddess, Brigid.

John Wilmott

Imbolc is one of the four Celtic Fire Festivals, once known as Candlemas or Brigid’s Day. The festival marks the halfway point of winter. It celebrates light and fertility, the promise of spring and rebirth. Imbolc gives hope that the scarcity, solitude, and darkness of winter are ending, and a new agricultural year is about to begin. It is a time when plants emerge from the snow. Livestock lactate in preparation to giving birth in the spring. (Imbolc means “in milk.”) Imbolc marks the shift of the Triple Goddess from Crone to Maiden.

The Celtic goddess honored at Imbolc is known by many names: Brigid, Brighid, Bride, Bridey, Brigantia, and Brigit. One of the most common pronunciations is BREED. Brigid is a goddess of fire, healing, poetry, and smith-craft. She inspires internal magic — the creative spark and inner healing. Her influence also governs the tangible alchemy of the forge — the harnessing of primal fire through skill and strength to transform metal into tools, weapons, and more. As the warrior-maiden Brigantia, she is the personification — the Sovereignty of the Land — of Britain.

The Quest

My quest: To experience Brigid in the Irish landscape and to trace Her transition from a pagan Goddess, to Her appropriation as a Catholic saint, to Her place in Ireland today.

I began by visiting the cold, stone ruins of Brigid’s Fire Temple on the grounds of the Kildare Cathedral. The massive monuments to Christianity - the tower and the cathedral - built on Brigid's sacred ground, dwarf the rectangular foundation of the Fire Temple. Below, the stunning view from the tower is from an excellent post by Roaringwater Journal.

Photo credit: Roaringwater Journal
View from the Kildare Round Tower
Of Brigid's Fire Temple and Kildare Cathedral

Statue of Saint Brigid.
Kildare, Ireland
Photo by Ariella Moon

My second stop was a meeting with the Brigidine Sisters in the light-filled Christian Centre for Celtic Spirituality. The Centre was built in the shape of a Brigid cross, and is located near one of the wells dedicated to the Goddess and her namesake saint.

Brigid's Sacred Flame

Brigid's Flame metal sculpture,
Market Square, Kildare, Ireland
Photo by Ariella Moon

In ancient times, the priestesses of the Goddess tended Her sacred flame in the hope Brigid would protect the herd and provide a bountiful harvest.

Then, in the fifth century, the new religion reached Ireland and supplanted the Old Ways. Saint Brigid founded a monastery at Kildare on the grounds of the Goddess's Fire Temple. In an echo of the pagan tradition, the saint's nuns tended a flame, declaring it represented the light of Christianity.

From the fifth century until the Reformation in the sixteenth century, the flame remained lit.

In 1993, the tradition of Sacred Fire was reborn in Kildare. At the opening of a peace conference entitled, "Brigid: Prophetess, Earthwoman, Peacemaker," the Brigidine Sisters lit a new flame.

While retracing the evolution of the Goddess, I discovered sun-bright threads of continuity. Unlike many Goddesses and Gods of pre-Christian religions, Brigid survived. Towering cathedrals were built on her sacred grounds. Her name was co-opted and Her story changed to suit a new, patriarchal religion. Although Her flame was extinguished, it never truly died.

At Imbolc, during the bitter cold of mid-winter, the fiery golden threads I discovered at Kildare still bring hope, warmth, and the promise of better days ahead.

Copyright 2019 Ariella Moon

For an in-depth look at this complex Goddess and Her enduring history, I recommend, "Brigid: Survival Of A Goddess” by Winter Cymres of the Order of Bards, Ovates & Druids.

For more on Brigid's Sacred Flame, see "Lighting the Perpetual Flame of Brigid (A brief history of the flame)

Full Moon Magic

10:43 AM

Cover Reveal!

11:51 AM

Have a Magical Beltane!

9:21 AM

Beltane: A Festival of Fire and Fertility

The Wheel of the Year turns once more. Ostara, the Maiden Goddess, at Beltane yields to the May Queen and the celebration of life. Beltane, also known as May Day, begins at sundown on April 30.

Beltane, an ancient Celtic festival of fire and fertility, may have evolved from the six-day Roman festival Floralia, which celebrated the goddess Flora and occurred on April 27 or 28. The Floralia commemorated the flowering of spring and included theatrical performances, and competitive games paid for by fines collected when public lands were encroached upon.

Beltane in contrast, is primarily a fire and fertility festival, and is the last of the three spring fertility festivals, following Imbolc and Ostara. It marks the halfway point between the vernal (spring) equinox and the summer solstice. In ancient times, Beltane celebrated life, the end of the dark time of winter, the beginning of summer, and the virility of the Sun God, known during the festival as the May King or Green Man.

On May Eve, Druids lit the Bel fires (bright fires, balefires) for luck and protection. Witches jumped the flames to fortify the protection spells. Cattle were driven between the balefires to safeguard the herd. Couples spent the night in the woods “A-Maying.” Married couples cavorted as well. They were allowed to remove their wedding rings, and for the night were free of the restrictions of marriage.

Then on May Day, villagers danced the Maypole. The phallic-like pole represented the god; the rainbow ribbons, the goddess. As the dancers circled the Maypole, their entwining ribbons wrapped around the pole, signifying the joining of the god and goddess.

THE BELTANE ESCAPE

Lady Fenella, Thaness of Thorburn, has no idea her fate is shackled to a powerful sorceress. She believes Merlin and the Lady of the Lake are myths, Gran’s warnings about Fairy are superstition, and Fairy was invented to make children behave. But a spell cast forward to sixteenth century Scotland finds Fenella and leads to her being branded, stolen, and betrothed. Traumatized and separated from her clan, the Highland heiress finds an unexpected ally in her kidnapper’s son. But their fragile romance is tested when the Lady of the Lake lures Fenella’s cousin into Fairy. Fenella has seconds to decide. Should she remain with Edward, or should she dive into Fairy to rescue her beloved cousin, endangering her clan, and abandoning Edward to his ruthless father?